Ben Courtice

Gippsland unionists locked out for six months

Underneath the enormous conveyor belts at the back of the Yallourn power station, 49 metalworkers from MEC Engineering, which is part of the Eliott group, have maintained a six-month “protest embassy” to win their jobs and entitlements back.

Global warming: The activists' handbook

Unity
Published by Socialist Worker, New Zealand
December 2006, $5
<socialist-worker@pl.net>

Power industry unions push for OHS control

Gippsland power industry unionists met on February 20 to discuss a plan for rescuing the industry’s occupational health and safety (OHS) standards after two deaths and one serious injury in the power industry late last year.

'Clean coal' is smoke and mirrors

Australian coal-mining companies and Prime Minister John Howard are promoting “clean coal” as a technology that will enable the coal industry to continue its exports while supposedly cleaning up the greenhouse-gas emissions from the burning of this coal.

Principled environmental policy

Environmental Principles and Policies: An Interdisciplinary Approach
By Sharon Beder
UNSW Press, 2006
336 pages, $54.95 (pb)

A snapshot of imperialist globalisation

Wayanad Misery in an Emerald Bowl Essays in the Ongoing Crisis in the Cash Crop Economy — Kerala
By T.G. Jacob
Published by Vikas Adhyayan Kendra, 2006
Available at <http://www.vakindia.org>

Water trading is drought profiteering

The worst drought in 1000 years means that water shortage is as burning issue across Australia, cutting across the city-country divide. A Morgan poll, back in October 2005, found that 80% of Australians believe governments are not doing enough about water conservation, a view that has since been reinforced. But just how well will restrictions, water saving devices such as dual-flush toilets and rainwater tanks, and water trading schemes tackle the problem?

Summit fiddles while drought burns Australia

As the November 7 emergency water summit of federal and state parliamentarians was told that the current drought is the worst in 1000 years, the opposition parties criticised the governments for fiddling while the drought worsens. Greens Senator Rachel Siewert claimed the summit “shied away from making the tough decisions at a time when urgent action was sorely needed”.

Biofuels - the answer to the wrong question

Biofuels such as ethanol have been presented by alternative energy entrepreneurs and many environmentalists as a “clean, green” alternative to fossil fuels. But recently a growing chorus of scientists have warned of the dangers of biofuels.

Mock trial of David Hicks and other briefs

A mock trial of David Hicks held in front of PM John Howard's office on August 26 was organised by the Canterbury Bankstown Peace Group and Justice for Hicks and Habib Campaign.